Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Etymology: mid-14c., from Old English Zefferus, from Latin Zephyrus, from Greek Zephyros "the west wind" (sometimes personified as a god), probably related to zophos "the west, the dark region, darkness, gloom." Sense of "mild breeze" is c.1600.

And with that, the challenge has ended. May your pride at surviving such a feat blow you like a gentle breeze through the rest of the months of the year (pun not intended, but hilarious).

There are a few bloggers, in particular, I would to thank for the incredible efforts they pour into this labor of love.

Arlee Bird. Founding father, fearless leader, intrepid blogger. Lee dreamed up the April A to Z challenge, and it is to him and him alone that all of us owe our deepest gratitude. I would probably know hundreds, if not thousands, less bloggers than I know today if it were not for Lee.

Alex J. Cavanaugh. Ninja. Captain (Pirate?). Friend. Alex is the master of the linky list, and I'm pretty sure he does about 4 times as much work as any other co-host. He is the grease that keeps the challenge running.

Jeremy [Retro-Zombie]. Designer. Entrepreneur. Editor. I probably owe Jeremy more than anyone, personally. Jeremy designs all the graphics for the challenge, and while it might have been my little idea to use an original graphic for each letter, it was Jeremy who did all the work to make them (and who therefore owns the copyright). It was due solely to his efforts that my posts looked so good (assuming you thought they'd looked good, if you didn't then Jeremy's to blame).

Monday, April 29, 2013

yeo·man [yōmən] n. 1. An attendant, servant, or lesser official in a royal or noble household. 2. A petty officer or noncommissioned officer in the Royal Navy or Marines in charge of signals. 3. A farmer who cultivates his own land, especially a member of a former class of small freeholders in England.

Synonyms: beefeater, yeoman of the guard

Etymology: c.1300, "attendant in a noble household," of unknown origin, perhaps a contraction of Old English iunge man "young man," or from an unrecorded Old English *geaman, equivalent of Old Frisian gaman "villager," from Old English -gea "district, village," cognate with Old Frisian ga, ge, from Proto-Germanic *gaujan.

Sense of "commoner who cultivates his land" is recorded from early 15c.; also the third order of fighting men (late 14c., below knights and squires, above knaves), hence yeomen's service "good, efficient service" (c.1600). Meaning "naval petty officer in charge of supplies" is first attested 1660s. Yeowoman first recorded 1852: "Then I am yeo-woman O the clumsy word!" [Tennyson, "The Foresters"]

Friday, April 26, 2013

wid·der·shins [widərˌSHinz] adv. In a direction contrary to the sun's course, considered as unlucky; counterclockwise.

Synonyms: counterclockwise

Etymology: 1510s, chiefly Scottish, originally "contrary to the course of the sun or a clock" (movement in this direction considered unlucky), probably from Middle Low German weddersinnes, literally "against the way" (i.e. "in the opposite direction"), from widersinnen "to go against," from wider "against" (see with) + sinnen "to travel, go," from Old High German sinnen, related to sind "journey" (see send).

I believe the root, which is even earlier, is Vicar: c.1300, from Old French vicaire, from Latin vicarius "substitute, deputy," noun use of adj. vicarius "substituting," from vicis "change, turn, office" (see vicarious). The original notion is of "earthly representative of God or Christ;" but also used in sense of "person acting as parish priest in place of a real parson" (early 14c.).

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Etymology: c.1600, from French tacite, from Latin tacitus "that is passed over in silence, done without words, assumed, silent," prop. past participle of tacere "to be silent," from PIE root *tak- "to be silent" (cf. Gothic þahan, Old Norse þegja "to be silent," Old Norse þagna "to grow dumb," Old Saxon thagian, Old High German dagen "to be silent"). The musical instruction tacet is the 3rd person present singular of the Latin verb.

You gotta love a word with such diverse origins.

NOTE: The time has come to begin considering the A to Z Challenge Reflections Post (we're nearing the end, people)!

We will be doing a reflections post again this year and invite all participants of the Challenge to join us.

What did you enjoy about the Challenge?

What could we do better next year?

What issues did you encounter? (Word verification, unable to comment, long posts, etc.)

Did you encounter many non-participants? (With help from our minions, we tried really hard to clean the list this year.)

Theme or no theme – what seemed to work better? Did you find any great themes?

Did you have fun and will you participate again next year?

Your Reflections can be posted anytime from May 3 through May 10. The Linky List will go live May 3 and we ask you to add the link to your post, not your website, once you have posted. The Challenge hosts read every one so we know where to improve for next year.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

re·vise [riˈvīz] v. 1. To prepare a newly edited version of (a text). 2. To reconsider and change or modify: I have revised my opinion of him.

Synonyms: change, review, modify, reconsider, re-examine

Etymology: 1560s, "to look at again," from Middle French reviser, from Latin revisere "look at again, visit again," frequentative of revidere (past participle revisus), from re- "again" (see re-) + videre "to see" (see vision). Meaning "to look over again with intent to improve or amend" is recorded from 1590s. Related: Revised; revising. The Revised Version of the Bible was done 1870-84; so called because it was a revision of the 1611 ("King James") translation, also known as the Authorized Version.

Highly appropriate for us writers, and very timely for myself, in fact.

Well that's boring, let's look at Penultima: 1580s, from Latin penultima (syllaba), "the next to the last syllable of a word or verse," from fem. of Latin adjective penultimus "next-to-last," from paene "almost" + ultimus "final" (see ultimate).

There we go. My understanding of this word was not quite right until today.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

oc·cult [əˈkəlt] n. Occult practices or techniques: a student of the occult. v. To conceal or cause to disappear from view. adj. Of, relating to, or dealing with supernatural influences, agencies, or phenomena.

Isn't that one interesting? To be perfectly honest, I had no idea it could also be a verb.

We're over half way done now, and today is my day to post at the A to Z blog again. Please stop by and say hi!

On a more serious note, I'm posting at The Kindness Project as well today, reacting, in the only way I know how, to the tragedy that occurred in Boston on Monday. Don't feel obligated to read it, but if you have time, it might lift your spirits a little.

Monday, April 15, 2013

ma·gi [māˌjī] n. pl n singma·gus 1. (Non-Christian) the Zoroastrian priests of the ancient Medes and Persians. 2. (Christian) the wise men from the East who came to do homage to the infant Jesus (Matthew 2:1-12) and traditionally called Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar.

Synonyms: Wise Men, sage, seer

Etymology: c.1200, "skilled magicians, astrologers," from Latin magi, plural of magus "magician, learned magician," from Greek magos, a word used for the Persian learned and priestly class as portrayed in the Bible (said by ancient historians to have been originally the name of a Median tribe), from Old Persian magush "magician" (see magic). Related: Magian.

This one is interesting to me, because being an old D&D'er, I always thought Magi was just another word for Wizard.

Saturday, April 13, 2013

ly·can·thro·py [līˈkanTHrəpē] n. in folklore, the magical ability to assume the form and characteristics of a wolf.

Synonyms: none

Etymology: 1580s, a form of madness (described by ancient writers) in which the afflicted thought he was a wolf, from Greek lykanthropia, from lykanthropos "wolf-man," from lykos "wolf" (see wolf (n.)) + anthropos "man" (see anthropo-). Originally a form of madness (described by ancient writers) in which the afflicted thought he was a wolf; applied to actual transformations of persons (especially witches) into wolves since 1830 (see werewolf).

I'm sure we're all pretty familiar with this fun word, but it's always cool to see the etymology.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

in·cu·busn. an evil spirit supposed to descend upon and have sexual intercourse with women as they sleep.

Synonyms: daemon, daimon, demon, devil, fiend

Etymology: c.1200, from Late Latin (Augustine), from Latin incubo "nightmare, one who lies down on (the sleeper)," from incubare "to lie upon" (see incubate). Plural is incubi. In the Middle Ages their existence was recognized by law.

NOTE: I'm finally back at my desk at the office today. I really enjoyed my time with my family at Universal Studios (see Facebook for some photos), and especially at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, but I really wouldn't recommend going out of town for the first few days when you're co-hosting something as huge as the 2013 April A to Z Challenge. It's been going very well so far, of course, but I've felt bad I haven't been able to visit all of you who've been visiting me (or meeting anyone who hasn't, for that matter). But I plan to remedy all of that, now that I'm back, so I'm looking forward to reading all your posts!

Etymology: 1580s, "skipping about," from Latin desultorius "hasty, casual, superficial," adjective form of desultor (n.) "a rider in the circus who jumps from one horse to another while they are in gallop," from desul-, stem of desilire "jump down," from de- "down" (see de-) + salire "to jump, leap" (see salient). Sense of "irregular, without aim or method" is c.1740. Related: Desultorily; desultoriness.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Etymology: 1919, but it may have origins in 19c. U.S. Southern black speech. Origin unknown, suspects include Latin, Yiddish (e.g. Hebrew kol b'seder), Italian, Louisiana French (coupe-sétique), and Native American. None is considered convincing by linguists.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

bour·geois [boor-zhwä] n. pl. - a member of the middle class, esp one regarded as being conservative and materialistic or (in Marxist theory) a capitalist exploiting the working class. adj. - of, relating to, or typical of the middle class.

Synonyms: there are no synonyms for such a specific word, but some related terms are: businessperson, capitalist, burgher.

Etymology: 1560s, "of the French middle class," from French bourgeois, from Old French burgeis, borjois "town dweller" (see bourgeoisie). Sense of "socially or aesthetically conventional" is from 1764; in communist and socialist writing, as a noun, "a capitalist" (1883).

Monday, April 1, 2013

Happy Monday morning you intrepid challengers! Today is the official beginning of the 2013 April A to Z Blogging Challenge.

I'm not changing much up from last year, since it was a formula that worked quite well for me, and since I like to focus more on visiting new blogs and meeting new bloggers than I do on my own posts. So, it's unique words and their etmologies again for me this year, starting with A.

Asinine

as·i·nine [asəˌnīn] adj. - utterly stupid or silly.

Synonyms: fatuous, inane, vacuous, mindless, foolish.

Etymology: c.1600, "obstinate, stupid," from Latin asininus "stupid," literally "like an ass," from asinus "ass," also "dolt, blockhead" (see ass (n.1)). The literal sense in English is recorded from 1620s.

Well that's it! We're off to a great start. Unfortunately, I'm actually out of town this week, so please be sure to visit my assistants:

The QQQE Massive.

Who Am I?

I'm the father of two beautiful young ladies, three lazy cats and one adorable German Shepherd. Together we live in the mountains of north Georgia amid my endless collection of vinyl records.
I run this blog in an attempt to help other novice writers avoid the mistakes I made in the beginning of my road to publication. Believe me, I made many.